1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, an image processing method, and a computer-readable recording medium containing a program for performing a correction process on an image.
2. Description of the Related Art
For example, an image shot by a digital camera, etc., can be processed to an image with a color shade desirable to a user, by performing an appropriate correction process on the image after shooting. As a technique for allowing the user to easily perform such a correction process on an image, for example, an image processing system described in Japanese Patent No. 4230730 is known.
In the image processing system described in Japanese Patent No. 4230730, the most similar sample image to a correction target image is selected by referring to a database where the characteristics of sample images and their respective optimal processing procedures are accumulated, and the correction target image is corrected according to a processing procedure associated with the sample image. Specifically, a similarity between a correction target image and a sample image is determined by comparing statistical data representing the characteristics of sample images accumulated in the database, with statistical data obtained from the correction target image. Then, script data representing a processing procedure associated with a sample image having the highest similarity to the correction target image is read from the database, and a correction process according to the written content of the script data is performed on the correction target image.
However, in the conventional technique described in Japanese Patent No. 4230730, since a processing procedure for a sample image that is selected based only on the similarity as an image is applied to a correction target image, there is a problem that a correction process suitable for the characteristics of a user requesting a correction, e.g., nationality and age, cannot be easily performed on the correction target image.
For example, when an image in which a person's face is photographed is attempted to be corrected, in many cases, a user desires the image to be corrected such that the color of the face gets closer to the skin color of a memory color. The memory color refers to a color shade remembered by a person as a desired color to a specific subject. Here, the memory color is not common to all people and varies depending on the characteristics (e.g., nationality and age) of a person. For example, taking skin color as an example, it is known that there is a tendency for Japanese to feel that more pinkish skin color than the actual skin color is desirable, while westerners do not like reddish skin color.
Thus, a color shade that a user feels desirable varies depending on the characteristics of the user. In the conventional technique described in Japanese Patent No. 4230730, since a correction process is performed without taking into account the characteristics of a user, a color tone obtained after correction does not always have a color shade that the user feels desirable.
For addressing the above-described problem, there is needed to provide an image processing apparatus, an image processing method, and a computer-readable recording medium containing a program that are capable of easily performing a correction process suitable for the characteristics of a user requesting a correction.